Gains Found in Fight Against Cancer Deaths

Published: September 3, 2003

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2—
Advances in detecting and treating cancer, along with the battle against tobacco use, have helped stabilize death rates from the four leading types of cancer, according to a federal report issued today.

But cancer remains the second-leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease, said the report, published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Lung cancer is by far the biggest cancer killer, estimated to be taking 157,000 lives in the United States this year, followed by colon cancer (57,000), breast cancer (40,000) and prostate cancer (29,000).

The report, from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, found a decline in death rates from all four cancers since 1990.

The statistics show that lung-cancer rates and deaths have fallen among men but continued to rise among women, consistent with trends in smoking, which began decreasing among men just as women began to smoke more.